If being around Kai Kingston was stressful, then his dad was on another level.

I sat opposite the old man and watched him sip his coffee in such calmness, contrasting my anxious self. A maid came to collect the cup and returned with a glass of water and a pill.

“So, Melanie, where do you study?” he started.

“I… haven’t got the chance to enrol in any university yet due to my busy schedule and narrow financials.”

The man nodded understandingly. “Your mother said you had always been from the top three back in school. That’s some admirable determination that shan’t be wasted.”

After all, studying to hold a degree was all I could do to save myself in society and guarantee myself a respectful job. I didn’t want to end up serving people. I wanted my mum proud of me, but I had yet to save money to attend university.

“What do you think about enrolling in Kingston University?” the man suggested.

My interest was earned, so I looked up to him. “Me? Sir, I’m sure you know I can’t afford that even with offers and discounts. Your university is an extraordinary educational institute,” I reasoned in the most respectful way I could.

Weirdly enough, his offer sounded like a challenge more than an opportunity. As if telling me not only did I not have the money to enrol, but I also wouldn’t fit among kids of the higher class. That would demand rejection from me. I knew better than to embarrass myself.

The man laughed as if my financial status was a joke to him. “I’m granting you a full scholarship, Melanie.”

\

“I don’t want it, Mum. Do they think they can buy our dignity with their money just because we are in need? I’m fine with my part-time jobs currently until I have enough money,” I whispered-shouted to my mum in our room, eyebrows furrowed in anger.

“Mel, you’re not going to be the only girl with a scholarship in that university. It’s not special treatment for you!” my mum reasoned. She already called me ungrateful. “Look, don’t reply now. Take your time to think, and don’t rush your decision. I’ll go buy groceries now. Just… take a shower and think well,” she advised and left me alone in the packed room.

I plopped down on the swivel chair and punched the desk. Mum was right, and so I was. Just like I had no reason to reject, I had no reason to accept as well. Mum didn’t understand how difficult it would be for me to be dissimilar from the majority of the rich kids there. I wouldn’t fit. I’d be that one poor girl who couldn’t even afford to buy their expensive lunch menu. Mum didn’t understand all of that… I wasn’t about to throw myself in situations I couldn’t manage.

The walls of the room felt as if they were tightening on me. I needed to leave that place before I would explode, and that Kingston would come again to check on the weird sound that came from a room that was never occupied before.

I put on a violet cardigan and exited the mansion. The breeze hit my face immediately, and I regretted not wearing thicker trousers. Still, I was too lazy to return inside and change. I watched the lit fountain outside pouring water in a vast, circular basin. What was the need for that, too, just like the silver utensils?

It looked attractive, nonetheless. I sat down on the edge and played with the warm water. Even that useless pool of water deserved to be heated for them. Minutes later, I was reunited with what I ran away from.

“Mellie,” I heard a voice from behind me.

When I looked up, I saw Kai Kingston. Although it was nighttime, the standing lamps illuminated enough around us for me to make out his face and posture. I was able to notice the guy’s height well for the first time—a metre and eighty centimetres at least, so he would easily tower over my metre and sixty-five centimetres. His hands were tucked in his trousers pockets, and his hair was combed to the side. He looked as if he was scrutinising me at first with his lips pressed in a tight line, wondering what got me by the fountain.

Eventually, as it felt over a few seconds already, he gave me a small but charming smile that managed to make me rethink my first impression of him. I wondered how our mums thought it would be comfortable for the two of us to live around the same space. He was youthfully attractive, and I was no superwoman to ignore that.

I wished we met in another setting, then it wouldn’t have been that hard to decide on the best way to react to him. He had already walked in on me at the worst time possible, so I was already uncomfortable.

So, to combat my attraction, I pretended I didn’t feel it anyway and chose to give him the careless attitude.

I glared his way. My long, auburn hair flipped behind my back. “Did you follow me?”

Kai frowned, not expecting my reaction. It felt as if we were on an undeclared debate, so he put on his best attitude as well.

“Excuse me? This is my family’s territory. I can be wherever I want.”

Was he showing off?

“Fair. Enjoy, then.” I got up.

He blocked my way with his tall figure. “The fountain is calming, right?” he asked as if we knew each other for long enough to feel comfortable about conversing. “I know somewhere better, though.”

What more surprises could their mansion possibly hide?

“I’m not interested,” I replied sternly.

He didn’t care about whatever I said and held my hand, sending shivers through my whole body. My small hand was engulfed in his bigger one. I watched Kai’s muscular back flex as he walked me through the familiar way to the basement, wherein I got wine bottles for his parents. The only difference was he took me to a different door I never dared to knock or open.

I stopped us just before he opened the door. “What’s in there?” I inquired instead of letting him mindlessly pull me wherever he wanted.

He looked back at me and smiled. That was a first. “My mini library.”

He opened the door and pushed me in before I could comment on his response. Who told him I liked reading anyway? Tall bookcases framed the small room’s walls with a desk in the corner and a small door with a ‘WC’ panel. The room generally smelled of paper, scented candles, and cologne—a dangerous mix.

“I haven’t brought anyone here yet. You’re the first,” Kai commented.

I raised an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to feel special?”

He chuckled. “No. I haven’t because I’ve just arrived from far away. I made this room before I left but haven’t got to spend time in it yet,” he explained, fiddling with the papers of some book.

I hid my embarrassment by asking, “Where were you? When Mum agreed to work here, they didn’t mention they had a son.”

“That’s none of your business,” he answered without sparing me a glance, returning the book to its place then passing his fingers over the neat books on the shelf. I didn’t even see his expression while he said it. “By the way, there are two sons.”

My jaw and fists clenched. “I don’t care. It’s thoughtless of you to think reading comforts me anyway. I was fine by the fountain.”

The caramel head turned around and walked closer. His grey eyes were staring into mine dangerously. I was cornered between him and the shelves behind me. “I don’t understand your attitude, Mellie,” he rasped. Was it normal for his voice to make me feel things? Probably because I hadn’t been around men in a while. He stepped closer and closer to my discomfort. Kai’s finger dared to hook around one buttonhole in my cardigan, and he looked down to my chest. “Is it perhaps because I walked in on you… doing things?”

My face hardened even more. He was unabashed. I pushed his hand away and responded, “Or maybe because you have no manners.”

He clicked his tongue multiple times in displeasure. His hand reached closer to my head, and he picked a book from behind my head. I blushed.

“Paolo Coelho’s Adultery. Ever read this, kitten?”

“Kitten?”

Kai ignored me and opened a page. He handed me the book and gestured for me to read.

I blinked at him a few times before I tested my voice, “Kneeling down, I unzip his fly and wrap my mouth around his…” my voice wavered. He handed me a book with sex scenes and wanted me to read aloud? Why? Who did he think he was?

“…penis.” Kai continued on my behalf.

Nodding at the book, he meant for me to continue. I rolled my eyes and ignored him, not denying the knot that started forming in my core. I dared to continue reading, just to test him and push his buttons, “He grabs my hair and controls the rhythm of my head. He comes in less than a minute.

‘God, that was good.’

I say nothing. The fact is that it was far better for me than for him since he came so quickly…” I trailed off with the last few words.

God, what did I just read?

“Your cheeks are red,” Kai pointed out, licking his bottom lip.

Fúcking sexual tension. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to test how that tongue would sweep against my lips. I wondered if we shared the same thoughts.

I gulped. My eyesight trickled downwards, and my eyes widened for a second at the sight. I tensed, holding back the need in my voice. “And your pants are bulging, even though the scene is not that good—”

I failed. What did I expect from commenting on his manhood with a tone dripping with hunger and challenge?

I didn’t get to continue my sentence when he smashed his plump lips against mine fervently. The book fell from my hand, and I was stiff for a second, unknowing of the best reaction to his unwelcomed yet delicious kiss. He sucked on my lip to get a response out of my stiff body. That was when I sighed and wrapped my arms around his neck.

I had to pull away and not give up myself easily, I knew, but the sensation engulfed me and took over my self-control. My sexual frustration was taking over me in a matter of seconds, and he was satisfying it.

The tall guy held my buttocks, ushering me to wrap my legs around his hips. I obliged, holding his cheek to feel even more of him as we practically devoured each other. His tongue caressed mine, and he tasted like sweet vanilla.

Just when I was getting in the mood and getting alarmingly needier, Kai let me down and pulled away. He wiped his lips with his thumb then sucked it. My legs almost liquified into jelly at the sight. I could only look up at him, biting my lower lip, where his teeth once dug.

Kai picked the open book from the carpeted floor. “Check it out. Give me a review of every chapter you read. I’ll read it if you like it.”

I was still coming down from my high of kissing the family’s youngest son, thinking of the consequences even, yet he brushed it off as though it was an everyday thing for him.

“Why?”

He smirked. “Kitten, do you see all these erotica books? I need someone to finish them with me. I can’t possibly do that alone.”

How serious could he be? I gave him a repulsed look. “Why do you have an erotic library, to begin with?”

I couldn’t help thinking Kai was some sort of insatiable pervert, like Max, like many men I knew before. He took it to the next level by dedicating a whole library for eroticism, though. I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he might be into it as a literary genre only because I had enjoyed reading erotica before too.

Kai responded to my repulsion with a small, assuring smile. “You think I’m perverted, ah,” his deep voice resonated in the empty library, and that sound he made at the end was too raspy for my liking. There was that thing in men’s voice that made girls drown in delight, at least for me.

I snorted as if telling him obviously.

After all, he had just made me read something explicit. Then, we crossed boundaries with what little self-control we had. Although I didn’t hate it, and dare I say would’ve liked more, it got me apprehensive of the consequences.

He rubbed the corner of his lips with his thumb, deep in thought. “There’s more to it than the vulgarity, Melanie. It’s art. A genre to enjoy,” Kai explained as though the library he owned was a rare painting pulled from a French museum. Although I agreed it was a form of art, I was dubious of his real intentions. He extended the book my way, and I finally took it. “I bet we’ll enjoy reading together.”

If I could get a taste every time? Certainly.

. . .

Again, I do not own the parts I borrowed from Paolo's book!

Thoughts about Kai?

Melanie?

The scholarship?

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